Abstract
Shadow puppet or
shadow theatre had been produced in multiple languages in different countries
for over a hundred years. Shadow puppetry can be made to be more memorable
through the representation of their personality and how they are identified
through body gesture and movement. When we are playing with light in the dark
sometime it can causes something strange and unique. (Schonewolf, p.7). Objects
that only can be recognised by shape that sometime hardly to be noticed can
create a new desire to look and know about it.
The unique power
of the shadow theater will be developed with good narration or music
composition. Music has always been used as a background but it merely acts as
some sort of emotion that can cover all the story telling. Through the use of
their creativity, the narrator in shadow puppetry or music can persuade the
audience's conscious and unconscious minds of a character's impact and
memorability. Through the use of subtle body movement to express the puppet emotion
also can help them to be recognized. The creation of emotion in every character
came from the imagination and expression of the writers and the animators
themselves.
In
this animation project, it will be in 2D computerize fancy shadow silhouette. According
to Beiman (2013, p.14), we use reality as our inspiration and imagination to
create stories or animated characters but we need to adapt reality, not to copy
it. This animation will involve a lot of colour and body movement to make the
shadow puppet come alive. All the background will have their own depth and a
little bit dark to enhance the characters. The background also helps to
describe the surroundings and the story around the characters to guide the
audience through the whole animation. Lotte Reiniger will give a big influence
and perspective in this animation. Although at that time she had been used cut
out animation style, but the impact was memorable. Her films from the 1920s and
1930s are acknowledged as classic shadow puppet but the popularity were above
than that. (Reiniger, 1970).
Lotte Reiniger’s
animation is so emotional and memorable through the use of outstanding cut out
animation even though she was simply retelling well known fairy tales. Her
sense of colour and attention to every detail of each cut out puppet, made her
work recognisable and established within the industry. Excerpted from a
conversation with Bruce Greenville and Tim Johnson on March 9, 2007, ‘Lotte Reiniger proved that animation can be
used to tell extended story and she perfected the use of subtle body movement
to express the emotion’. (Greenville, p.100- p.103). The use of expression
of body language in the characters been paired with the use of colour to
express the characters emotions and thoughts. Shadow theatre is unrealistic but
it closed to imagination and poetic direction that can bring joy and new desire
to the audiences.
Research
Methodology for this research will be by quantitative and qualitative methods.
I will use quantitative method using questionnaire throughout the students in
the University of Dundee on how they choose their genre or type of
movie/animation. The secondary method research also will be done by watching on
the shadow puppetry from all the culture in the world such as Chinese, Indian,
Javanese, and also from the West Country. It also will be include on the
reading of journals and books relevance with body gesture and personality of
the character. In this research method also, I will conduct a group interview
to find a hypothesis towards my projects tittle and also to find a perfect
target audience. Final outcome for my projects will only can be done after all
the analysis and observation of movies, animations, websites, and interview
with industry persons or organizations had been conduct.
Critical Review
In this
critical review, I will analyse how a character can be made to be more
memorable through the representation of their personality and how they are identified through
body gesture and movement.
Through the
use of their creativity, an artist or animator can persuade the audience's
conscious and unconscious minds of a character's impact and memorability.
Through the use of subtle body movement to express the artists or animators
emotion also can help some of the characters to stand apart from the other
characters. Within same storyline there are instances where secondary characters
become more memorable and important to audiences.
The first
case study we will review is from one of the most famous science fiction movie
series; ‘Star Wars’. The main Protagonist is Luke Skywalker who is the son of
Darth Vader. While he was meant to be the most important character in the plot,
audiences favoured the side character Han Solo who is actually a secondary
character and an outsider at the beginning of the story. The dialogue and
script that had been given to this character is strong enough to make him stand out even without presence of
the main character. It shows that the characters and their personalities had
been caught into the audience views and they did not care who the main
character was as long as they continue to know what will happen next ( Caputo,
2003 ).
Han Solo, Leia and Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode
The creation
of emotion in every character came from the imagination and expression of the
writers and the animators themselves. Cartoons nowadays are a huge industry because it has been produce by many animation companies. Some of the cartoon characters are memorable because of the personality of the characters themselves
who are more unique, lovable and relatable.
According to Beiman (2013, p.14), we use reality as our inspiration and
imagination to create stories or animated characters but we need to adapt
reality, not to copy it. Animated productions that follows too much on the
process of making their characters physically realistic often times lack
engaging characters and story.
Another case
study, is a silhouette animation by Lotte Reiniger. Her animation is so emotional
and memorable through the use of outstanding cut out animation even though she
was simply retelling well known fairy tales. Her sense of colour and attention to every detail
of each cut out puppet, made her work recognisable and established within the
industry. Excerpted from a
conversation with Bruce Greenville and Tim Johnson on March 9, 2007, ‘Lotte
Reiniger proved that animation can be used to tell extended story and she
perfected the use of subtle body movement to express the emotion’.
(Greenville, 2007 p.100- p.103). The use of expression of body language in the
characters has been paired with the use of colour to express the characters
emotions and thoughts.
“Scorpio’s Garden” at Temporare Kunsthalle
Berlin Lotte Reiniger
According to
Wells (1998, p. 7) there are individual styles and approaches for each
individual animator, implemented in the creation of animated film. Paul said
many animators build their characters based on previous films and they lack
their own individual styles. We can see there is a lot of same influences in
several animations that have characters that are too similar to those in other
animations. Examples in the personality of ‘cuteness’, most of the animators
will express it in the form of a baby and a shy personality. In Advanced
Animation written by Preston Blair (1947) he said that the cuteness of a
character can be in the proportion of a head that is larger than its body and
also a bulging tummy to make it appear well fed. He has used this formula of
characterisation in many of the Disney films he has made. But different method
was used in 'Minions' created characters by Pierre Coffin where the evil
characters are also cute and also humourous. We can see that the personality of
the characters can be memorable despite the fact that their role in the story
is not a main character.
Gus in “Cinderella” and Minions in "Despicable
Me"
As I can
conclude in this critical review about how some characters can affect audiences
more than the others, we see that the choice of a writer or animator influences
certain character personalities and often these factors make them more
appealing to audiences than others. Main character may be good and honourable
but can still seem lame and dull to the audience. While they might choose
another character that is more active and humourous. Audiences tend to not
automatically favour either a Protagonist or Antagonist prematurely but as a
whole respond to every aspect of the film itself.
Key words: Character, Personality, Body Gesture, Movement,
Silhouette animation
Books References
Greenville, B. (2008) Krazy! The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art. Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre
Beiman, N. (2013) Prepared To Be Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts. 2nd Ed. Abingdon, Oxon, Focal Press
Wells, P. (1998) Understanding Animation. New York, Routledge Taylor and Francis Group
Blair, J. P. (1947) Advanced Animation. United State of America, Walter T. Foster
Caputo, T. C. (2003) Visual Storytelling: The Art and Technique. New York, Watson-Guptill Publications
Greenville, B. (2008) Krazy! The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art. Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre
Beiman, N. (2013) Prepared To Be Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts. 2nd Ed. Abingdon, Oxon, Focal Press
Wells, P. (1998) Understanding Animation. New York, Routledge Taylor and Francis Group
Blair, J. P. (1947) Advanced Animation. United State of America, Walter T. Foster
Caputo, T. C. (2003) Visual Storytelling: The Art and Technique. New York, Watson-Guptill Publications
Internet
Animation Resources (2011) Instruction: Preston Blair’s Advanced Animation. Available at : http://animationresources.org/instruction-preston-blairs-advanced-animation/ (Accessed: 3 October 2015)
Animation Resources (2011) Instruction: Preston Blair’s Advanced Animation. Available at : http://animationresources.org/instruction-preston-blairs-advanced-animation/ (Accessed: 3 October 2015)
Images
Scorpio’s Garden at Temporare Kunsthalle Berlin, Lotte Reiniger Available at: http://www.contemporaryartdaily.com/2009/10/scorpios-garden-at-temporare-kunsthalle-berlin/lr_dieabenteuer/ ( Accessed: 3 October 2015)
Scorpio’s Garden at Temporare Kunsthalle Berlin, Lotte Reiniger Available at: http://www.contemporaryartdaily.com/2009/10/scorpios-garden-at-temporare-kunsthalle-berlin/lr_dieabenteuer/ ( Accessed: 3 October 2015)
Animation/Movies
Cinderella (1950) Directed by Geronimi, C, Jackson, W, Luske, H. [Film]. USA: Walt Disney.
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Directed by Irvin Kershner [Film]. USA: 20th Century Fox.
Despicable Me (2010) Directed by Coffin, P, Renaud, C. [Film]. USA: Illumination Entertainment.
Cinderella (1950) Directed by Geronimi, C, Jackson, W, Luske, H. [Film]. USA: Walt Disney.
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Directed by Irvin Kershner [Film]. USA: 20th Century Fox.
Despicable Me (2010) Directed by Coffin, P, Renaud, C. [Film]. USA: Illumination Entertainment.
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